The 38th Parallel

The 38th Parallel - The Changing Tide

Part 2

"We had all but forgotten about the fighting in the excitement of learning and exploring our abilities. We had forgotten other things too. It was at this point too that Brian and his brethren reminded us that there had been another 'missile' when they had arrived, perhaps displaying that they too could keep secrets and behave in a slightly devious manner similar to humankind. In all the excitement and hubbub it had been forgotten by many of us, although we're sure that the CIA had perhaps not forgotten entirely, instead encouraging us to hone our abilities, as usual with an ulterior motive.  

"What the CIA didn't know was what the other UFO had contained, although Brian and his brethren quickly briefed them and brought them up to speed. The other ship had contained another alien species. The other species who'd come down at the same time were similar to the Anou, but far more aggressive and warlike. They were the ones who had crippled Brian's ship, although theirs had also been seriously damaged in the process. Shortly after that we began to get information filtering back to us that showed just how much that would change things.

"They had survived too.

"While we'd been secreted in our mountain fastness, the war had finally halted just north of the 38th Parallel in the summer of '53. The promise of the Soviets not to intervene – well not directly anyway – had been honoured and finally we had fought the North Koreans under the leadership of the ever secretive Kim Il-sung to a standstill. A cautious waving of white flags had followed and a meeting between the Korean/Chinese forces and the UN representatives had been set up. It was then that their secret was unveiled.

"The other aliens had integrated with the Koreans but, rather than becoming symbiotes as they had done with me and the others, they had done so as invaders. They had utterly taken over their hosts but retained their memories, knowledge and abilities. Quickly reading the situation, they had taken over the senior members of the Korean and Chinese governments and whilst pretending to parlay under the flag of treaty had used the situation to kill many members of the senior UN staff in one fell swoop before re-mobilising the combined might of the Korean and Chinese forces to head south of the 38th Parallel and invade South Korea.

"With the sudden loss of their leaders and caught unawares by the surprise attach, the UN forces were unexpectedly on the back foot and were swept inexorably southwards in disarray. Then Russia abruptly renounced the UN utterly and sided with China and Korea, simultaneously a small group of elite enemy soldiers appeared on the battlefield, able to move like ghosts, taking out command centre after command centre before disappearing like wraiths into the night. Chaos was born.

"During this, we continued to mutate and hone our new abilities, although the changes were slowing as time progressed and the melds began to stabilise. In an attempt perhaps to give us some sort of label, the CIA decided to assign us the somewhat grandiose title of Earth Defence Force, even going so far as to produce a rip off the original Lord Kitchener poster of 'Your Country Needs You' with 'EDF' stamped across it. One of the technicians who was a huge comic fan coined us 'supers' although we ourselves preferred the term Melds. The latter name stuck thankfully and suddenly a race of superheroes was born. It was at this point that the CIA decided the Melds should be used in the field and my mentoring days were abruptly halted as the team were reassigned to other duties.

"I was left behind.

"I can only assume that as the only non-US citizen and illegal prisoner, I was still not fully trusted and could not be freed for fear of setting off a diplomatic incident with the UN and UK. As I remained in pampered comfort, the other Melds were deployed into a world swiftly descending into the deepening darkness of another world war, the fighting enveloping more and more countries. South Korea fell, followed quickly by the other island states. China took Japan and then the combined forces of the east moved south to take out the Australian and New Zealand forces who were still staggering under the losses of their troops during World War 2. Russia quickly secured its borders and massed its troops east towards Alaska and Canada and along the western borders of Europe. World War 3 had arrived and the western world was threatened by the gathering storm clouds of war.